An aid ship carrying 12 activists, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, has reached the Egyptian coast and is nearing Gaza, organizers announced on Saturday.
The ship, named the Madleen and part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, left Sicily last week loaded with relief supplies for the people of Gaza. The mission aims to “break Israel’s blockade on Gaza,” according to organizers.
“We are now sailing off the Egyptian coast,” German human rights activist Yasemin Acar told AFP news agency. “We are all good.”
The International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza, a member of the flotilla coalition, confirmed that the ship had entered Egyptian waters. They are working with international legal and human rights organizations to ensure the safety of those on board, warning that any interception would be “a blatant violation of international humanitarian law.”
Rima Hassan, a member of the European Parliament who is also on board, called on governments to “guarantee safe passage for the Freedom Flotilla.”
Gaza has been under an Israeli naval blockade since 2007, enforced even before the recent escalation of conflict on October 7, 2023. In the past, Israel has used military action to enforce the blockade. In 2010, a commando raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, part of a similar aid flotilla, resulted in the deaths of 10 civilians.
Earlier in its journey, the Madleen changed course near the Greek island of Crete after receiving a distress signal from a sinking migrant boat. The activists rescued four Sudanese migrants who had jumped into the sea to avoid being returned to Libya. The four were later transferred to a European Union border patrol vessel.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, launched in 2010, is a group of organizations opposed to the blockade on humanitarian aid for Gaza. They aim to raise awareness of the situation in Gaza and to bring humanitarian aid to the people there.
Israel has faced growing international condemnation over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The United Nations has warned that the entire population of more than two million people is at risk of famine.
